Umass Suffers Presidential Upset

Top 25

With President Clinton looking on, Kwame Evans scored 27 points and George Washington broke Massachusetts’ 16-game winning streak with a 78-75 upset of the No. 1 Minutemen in Washington on Saturday.

Massachusetts (9-1 Atlantic 10, 17-2) rallied from a six-point deficit in the last 38 seconds to come within 76-75 on a 3-point basket by Edgar Padilla with 10 seconds remaining.

But the Colonials (6-3, 13-8) stayed on top as Vaughn Jones hit two free throws with 4.6 seconds remaining for the final margin.

It was the Colonials first game against a top-ranked team. Massachusetts, playing without top shotblocker Marcus Camby, who has an injured hamstring, continued its tradition of struggling against the Colonials on GW’s home court. The Minutemen, who had the nation’s longest winning streak going in, have won just two of their last 19 games against the Colonials in Washington.

GW stretched a six-point halftime lead to a 47-38 lead with 16:30 to play, but the Minutemen began getting the ball inside and outscored George Washington 21-11 in the next 7:34 to go ahead 59-58 on a three-point play by Lou Roe with 8:56 to play.

(2) North Carolina 82, N.C. St. 63

Jerry Stackhouse scored 21 points as the Tar Heels avenged their only loss of the season and moved into sole possession of first place in the ACC at Chapel Hill, N.C.

The victory, coupled with George Washington’s upset of No. 1 UMass, cleared the way for the Tar Heels (8-1 ACC, 18-1) to move atop the polls. The Wolfpack fell to 2-7, 10-9.

(3) Kansas 91, (11) Iowa St. 71

Greg Ostertag erased the Big Eight career record for blocks and the torrid Jayhawks sank their first 10 shots of the second half and went on to crush the Cyclones.

Avenging an earlier loss at Iowa State, the Jayhawks (6-1 Big Eight, 17-2) outscored the visitors 18-1 beginning the second half and led by as many as 32 while beating the Cyclones (3-4, 17-5) at home for the 13th straight year.

(4) Connecticut 99, St. John’s 82

Brian Fair’s second-half 3-point binge led the Huskies to a win over the Red Storm in New York.

It was the 15th consecutive regular-season conference win for the Huskies (10-0 Big East, 17-1), breaking the tie they held with the 1984-85 St. John’s team.

The loss was the eighth straight in league for St. John’s (2-8, 9-9) and the fifth in a row at Madison Square Garden.

(21) Ga. Tech 100, (5) Maryland 91

Travis Best scored 30 points and freshman Matt Harpring 28 as the Yellow Jackets snapped the Terps’ six-game winning streak at Atlanta.

Tech (6-3 Atlantic Coast Conference, 15-6) extended its home floor winning streak to 15 games and beat Maryland (7-2, 17-4) for the 13th time in the last 14 games.

Mississippi St. 83, (8) Arkansas 62

Darryl Wilson scored 25 points as the Bulldogs beat the Razorbacks (6-4 SEC, 17-5) at Starkville, Miss., taking over the lead in the Southeastern Conference Western Division and making a strong case for a Top 25 ranking.

The Bulldogs (6-2, 14-4) won their third game in five days.

(9) Michigan St. 67, Ohio St. 58

Shawn Respert had 32 points, became the Spartans’ career scoring leader and scored his team’s final 13 points.

Michigan State, which leads the conference with an 8-1 record, moved to 16-2 - its best start ever. Ohio State fell to 4-15, its worst start in 96 years, while falling to 0-9 in Big Ten play for the first time ever.

Miami 67, (13) Georgetown 61

The Hurricanes took advantage of a late technical foul against coach John Thompson and upset the Hoyas.

Miami (4-6 in Big East, 9-8) notched its first victory over a ranked team since beating St. John’s on Feb. 20, 1993.

Georgetown (7-4, 14-5) never recovered from an early 19-5 deficit.

(14) Wake Forest 68, Winthrop 54 Randolph Childress scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half and Tim Duncan had 13 points and a careerhigh 23 rebounds to the Demon Deacons (14-4) to a win over the Eagles (6-13) at Rock Hill, S.C.

Wake Forest, which won for the fifth time in six games, used an 18-4 run in the second half to shake off Winthrop, which trailed only 42-40 with 12 minutes left.

Childress, the Demon Deacons’ leading scorer, was 1 of 8 from the field and 0 of 6 from 3-pointers before he made four straight baskets, including a pair of 3-point goals, as Wake Forest went up 60-44.

(15) Virginia 76, Florida St. 63 (OT)

The Cavaliers continued their charmed life in overtime as Harold Deane scored 11 of Virginia’s 17 extra-period points for a win over the slumping Seminoles at Charlottesville, Va.

Virginia (6-3 Atlantic Coast Conference, 13-6) won its eighth consecutive overtime game, including three this season, by overcoming a season-low 34.9-percent field-goal shooting and a 5-point play by the Seminoles (3-6, 10-8).

(18) Missouri 77, Kansas St. 60

Julian Winfield scored 18 points and the Tigers (5-2 Big Eight, 16-3) went on a 15-2 run at the start of the second half to beat the Wildcats (2-6, 11-9) at Manhattan, Kan.

Missouri (5-2 Big Eight, 16-3) trailed 42-41 at the start of the second half, but started the second period with consecutive 3-pointers by Jason Sutherland and Paul O’Liney. Kansas State (2-6, 11-9) made just three of 19 field goal attempts in the first 11 minutes of the half as the Tigers pulled away.

(19) Villanova 79, Pittsburgh 76 (OT)

Kerry Kittles scored 10 of his 26 points in overtime and the Wildcats (8-1, 15-5) rallied from a 10-point deficit late in regulation to beat Big East doormat Panthers (1-10, 5-15) at Pittsburgh.

The Wildcats overcame 21 turnovers, a 43-29 rebounding deficit and a 56-46 Pitt lead to win their seventh in a row. Eric Eberz scored 24 points, including four critical points in overtime, as Villanova won its 11th in 13 games and its fourth in five Big East road games.

Georgia 72, (20) Alabama 58

Katu Davis scored 25 points and hit 13 of 14 foul shots as the Bulldogs (4-4 SEC, 13-5) defeated the Crimson Tide (6-3, 15-5) at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Alabama never led and was showered with boos from an angry home crowd.

Georgia took an early lead and stopped several Alabama comeback attempts.

OTHERS

Clemson 51, Duke 44

Merl Code and Greg Buckner scored 14 points each to lead the Tigers to a win, keeping the Blue Devils’ nine-game Atlantic Coast Conference losing streak alive.

Clemson (3-6, 12-6) took advantage of a 10-3 run in the game’s last minute - which included 6 of 6 from the line - to complete a sweep of Duke (0-9 10-11) in conference play. The Tigers had lost nine consecutive games to the Blue Devils before a five-point Jan. 4 victory in Durham.